Lisbon

TOTAL SCORE: 84

The Portuguese capital Lisbon first started reaping the benefits of contactless technology long before the current contactless bandwagon began to roll.

In 2003, Lisbon’s public transport operators got together to launch contactless paper tickets, issuing more than 10 million C.tickets in the city. The C.tickets can be used across the travel networks – on the metro, buses, trams, trains and the Transtejo ferry. The technology has proved so successful that they ordered an extra 25 million of the tickets in 2008.

In 2009, cell operators TMN, Vodafone and Optimus took the technology another step forward by setting up a project with the Transport Operators of the Lisbon region (OTLIS). The scheme – which involved testing NFC-based ticketing using Sagem handsets on Lisbon’s metro network – started with around 25 users in the initial two-month trial. There are plans to expand the test to around 100 users and it may eventually also include rail and bus services.